Camp Sherman, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, blackberry, california poppy, and pumpkin. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Camp Sherman, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Camp Sherman lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Camp Sherman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Camp Sherman — the short answer
Camp Sherman, Oregon: USDA zone 6b, about 114 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~114
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6b is Camp Sherman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Camp Sherman's 114-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Camp Sherman
Each reading below is measured for Camp Sherman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCamp Sherman runs about 114 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCamp Sherman sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Camp Sherman is in
Camp Sherman sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Camp Sherman's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Jefferson County is mostly Blue Mountains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Camp Sherman
Every plant below cleared Camp Sherman's own zone 6b and its 114-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Camp Sherman?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Camp Sherman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Camp Sherman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SISTERS DISTRICT - PRAIRIE FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SISTERS DISTRICT - SUTTLE LAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SISTERS - CAMP SHERMAN RFPDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- WIZARD FALLS FISH HATCHERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SISTERS DISTRICT - ALLINGHAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SISTERS DISTRICT - MONTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- CAMP SHERMAN STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- OR STATE HWY 2-3 SANTIAM JCTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- SUTTLE LAKE RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- HOODOO SKI BOWLUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- BLACK BUTTE RANCH CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- 14S/09E-16ADBNitrate · 6.1 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Camp Sherman's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Camp Sherman.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Camp Sherman
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
4 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Camp Sherman
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Camp Sherman
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Camp Sherman average
Your land is one point inside Camp Sherman
Everything above resolves to Camp Sherman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Camp Sherman Average
Camp Sherman Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Camp Sherman
- ●One soil character for all of Camp Sherman
- ●Frost dates read at Camp Sherman's scale: May 23 to Sep 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Camp Sherman's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Camp Sherman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Camp Sherman, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Camp Sherman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Camp Sherman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Camp Sherman average
How we know this about Camp Sherman
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Camp Sherman’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Camp Sherman
When does frost risk typically end in Camp Sherman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Camp Sherman typically lands around May 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Jun 13.
When is the first frost in Camp Sherman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Camp Sherman typically arrives around Sep 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 31, so the watching starts about Aug 15 — about 114 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Camp Sherman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Camp Sherman sees about 114 frost-free days — roughly May 23 through Sep 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 13 to Aug 31, about 79 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Camp Sherman?
The federal record around Camp Sherman is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Camp Sherman?
With about 114 frost-free days between hard freezes, Camp Sherman rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 142 to 170 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 23 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Camp Sherman's scale — its 6b band and its 114-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Camp Sherman's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Camp Sherman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Camp Sherman's own scale — its own ~114-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,017 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Camp Sherman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Camp Sherman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 23 and Sep 14 and the ~114-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Camp Sherman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Camp Sherman's boundary and the 2,017 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~114-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Camp Sherman sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Camp Sherman's 2,017 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson County
- The growing challenges every Oregon grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oregon
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Camp Sherman's 2,017 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Camp Sherman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,017 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Camp Sherman-wide figureread your own land →